The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered the drug controller to look into the problem of politicians buying COVID-19 drugs in bulk despite shortages, stating that although BJP MP Gautam Gambhir may have meant well, the gesture inadvertently did a disservice.
The high court has ordered the Delhi government’s Drug Controller to launch a similar investigation and file a progress report into charges of procuring and hoarding medical oxygen levelled against AAP MLAs Priti Tomar and Praveen Kumar.
The Drug Controller would investigate how anyone was able to obtain over 2,000 strips of a medication, Fabiflu in this case, that is already in short supply, and how the chemist was able to accept such a prescription, according to a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh.
“Mr Gautam Gambhir must have done it with best of intentions. We are not doubting his intentions. He has been a national player of our country. Our question is whether it is a responsible behaviour when you the medicine is in short supply.
“We are not doubting his intentions but the way he has gone about it, he has actually done a disservice, unintentionally may be. This was not the way that you buy from the market so many strips, certainly not,” the bench said.
The high court was hearing a petition requesting the filing of a FIR on charges that politicians are able to purchase and administer COVID-19 drugs in large quantities while patients are lining up to get them.
An application was also filed in the pending petition making allegations MLAs Tomar and Kumar.
The court read the status report from the Delhi Police, which said that Gambhir had purchased 2,628 strips of Fabiflu, used to treat COVID-19 patients, on the prescription of Dr Manish of Sanjay Garg Hospital, and that while 2,343 strips were distributed to patients, the remaining 285 strips were deposited with the Delhi government’s Director General of Health Services for distribution, in light of the court’s earmark.
The court read the status report from the Delhi Police, which said that Gambhir had purchased 2,628 strips of Fabiflu, used to treat COVID-19 patients, on the prescription of Dr Manish of Sanjay Garg Hospital, and that while 2,343 strips were distributed to patients, the remaining 285 strips were deposited with the Delhi government’s Director General of Health Services for distribution, in light of the court’s earmark.
Political officials have no right hoarding supplies of COVID-19 medications that are already in short supply, according to the ruling, and they are forced to surrender these medications.
It had also expressed displeasure with the Delhi Police’s “vague and whitewashed inquiry” investigation into reports of politicians hoarding and selling drugs in the national capital.
Mr Singh’s lawyer, Advocate Virag Gupta, demanded that stringent action be taken against politicians who were supposedly engaging in black marketing because they couldn’t get it without a licence.
He said that photos clearly show Mr Gambhir, not the doctor, dispensing medications to people outside his office.
Mr Gambhir was neither a doctor nor a chemist, according to Mr Gupta, nor was he an authorised person to administer drugs to patients.
